I sometimes feel the smoking ban hasn’t eliminated smoking on campus but pushed smokers to the edges of campus. Working in a building on the edge of campus, I can smell the smoke in my office from smokers in the parking lot and along the sidewalk outside my office. 

 

These areas — and the East River Road path that hosts runners, walkers and cyclists trying to be healthy — are pretty constantly choked with smokers and littered with cigarette butts. 

 

I have asked smokers at least to move across the street, and after getting scoffed at a few times, I quit 

trying. I have at least twice filled out the form to report our “Problem Area” on the University Share the Air page and got a preliminary response, 

“Thanks for writing … ” but nothing further and no response when I followed up. The ban, for me, has been disappointing.